Phillies offense stalls in Game Two loss

Ryan Howard and the Phillies offense was frustrated all night.
Photo credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images

Yankees even up World Series behind pitching of A.J. Burnett

Well, so much for a sweep.

The Phillies saw their bats silenced in game two of the World Series by Yankees starting pitcher A.J. Burnett. The Yankees offense did enough to pick up a win by hitting a pair of solo home runs off of Phillies starter Pedro Martinez and added a third run off of the Phillies bullpen and won game two by a score of 3-1. The result ties the World Series at one game a piece as the series moves to Philadelphia Saturday.

Martinez, pitching his highly anticipated first World Series game since 2004 with the Boston Red Sox, heard it from the Yankees faithful early on but he did his job to quiet the crowd. Martinez struck out three of the first four batters he faced and finished the game with eight strike outs. Martinez pitched six full innings and was replaced by Chan Ho Park in the seventh inning after a pair of lead off hits put runners on the corners.

The Phillies already trailed in the seventh inning as Martinez allowed solo home runs to Mark Teixeira in the fourth inning and Hideki Matsui in the sixth inning. The Phillies though scored first off of Burnett. In the second inning Raul Ibanez, playing left field after playing DH in game one, hit a two out double to left field and scored on a base hit by game two DH Matt Stairs.

But the rest of the night was quiet for the Phillies, despite some pressure late in the game on Mariano Rivera. On the night the Phillies scattered six hits and walked just three times. Eleven times Phillies batters struck out, with nine coming from Burnett. Ryan Howard took the golden sombrero with four strike outs, leaving him barking at the home plate umpire on the last one in the ninth.

The Phillies, down 3-1, had Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino on first and second with one out in the eighth against Rivera. With Chase Utley up with a full count there was a question as to whether or not the runners should be off and running. The runners did not start to run when Utley received the full count pitch. Utley grounded to second for the force on Victorino and was called out at first, although video replay shows that he was safe. Regardless the inning, and possible rally, had ended with Howard waiting on deck.

The Phillies though did not lose this game by leaving Martinez in too long or because the runners weren't running in the eighth inning. This game was lost because Burnett handled the Phillies for seven innings and handed the game over to the best closer in baseball history.

The World Series is now tied at one so there is no need to panic for Phillies fans. Each of the last three post season series' the Phillies have played have been tied 1-1 and we all know how those turned out.

Game three is Saturday night in Citizens Bank Park. Cole Hamels will face Andy Pettitte in the important third game.